On of our favorite things about living here is that almost every trip into Seoul presents us with something unexpected. Yesterday we took the bus into town to pick up Eric's camera from the repair shop. It was a pleasant evening, so we decided to jump on the subway and stroll around Deoksugung Palace near City Hall. Stepping up onto the street we were immediately immersed in a perfect example of modern Korea: on one side of the street people in traditional Hanbok garb were walking into an ancient palace, and on the other side of the street, beneath skyscrapers that sported enormous jumbotron screens, a Korean ska band was playing on the stage at what turned out to be the annual kimchi festival. The sound of the music blended with the whistles and sirens of the police. This is the very definition of cacophony, but somehow it works here.
Eric wanted to take some fall foliage pictures with his newly-repaired camera, so we headed away from the music down a small side street beside the palace. We immediately noticed something weird - the trees were wearing sweaters!
Apparently this was the 2016 Tree Hug festival! We are both tree-huggers at heart, so when in Korea, do as the Koreans.
There must have been at least 50 trees with sweaters on, and it is hard to imagine long it must take to knit and elaborate sweater for a tree.
It was getting dark, but Eric got a chance to take some of the autumn colors shots that he loves...
On our way into town, we saw Eric's assistant principal Anthony on the bus, so we spent some time exploring Seoul together. As we walked down a narrow alley, we spotted a woman cooking food in front of a hole-in-the-wall ribs joint, and she convinced us (in Korean) go in an eat. It was heavenly, except we were apparently doing it wrong, so the proprietor wrapped some meat in lettuce and shoved it into Eric's mouth.
A few blocks away we came across yet another surprise - a hot-air balloon being inflated in the middle of town!
This seemed like a totally strange thing for people to be doing, until we realized that it was the kick-off to the annual autumn Lantern Festival.
You gotta love Seoul! For those of you who live here, don't miss these two wonderful festivals. As far as we could tell, the lanterns (and tree sweaters) were all different from last year's.
